Erythroxylon Coca: A Treatise on Brain Exhaustion, as the Cause of Disease.

TIBBLES, William (c.1834-1912).

Helmsley: W. Allenby, Leeds: Joseph Dodgson, Syston: W. Tibbles, 1877. [Cocaine] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.311 [7]. Publisher's blue cloth, blind embellishment stamped to boards. Gilt titles to spine. Yellow endpapers. Doctor's and publisher's advertisements to rear, including more of Tibbles' medical remedies such as the 'child's restorer' and the 'brain feeder,' both of which utilise cocaine. Gentle toning throughout with infrequent spotting, mostly to textblock edges and beginning/end of text. Some toning to endpapers. Small stamp to rear pastedown, small bookseller's label and armorial bookplate to front pastedown. Top edge toned. Toning to boards and spine, rubbing to joints and extremities. Mild shelfwear. A very good copy of a remarkable rarity. Born to poverty in mid-nineteenth century Leicester, William Tibbles became a self-proclaimed doctor and herbalist (although there is no evidence he ever underwent true medical training). In 1871, he began pedalling coca and cocaine as cures to tuberculosis and later as a panacea or general cure-all. In this book, which is the first English language text on the medical uses of cocaine (predating Carl Koller's research), he states his theory of disease - that illness is basically "the consequence of Brain exhaustion or deficiency of Nervous force" [pp.131], which is why a nervous stimulant such as cocaine can offer immense relief. He later invented 'Vi-Cocoa,' a kind of Victorian energy drink. Dr. Tibbles is a fascinating figure in the history of medicine, as he seems to have been a salesman and opportunist, but not entirely a charlatan. Item #76195

Price: £2,250.00